By R’ Yoni Schwartz
Rav Shmuel Berenbaum of blessed memory
Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, ZT”L, the Rosh Yeshiva of Mir in Brooklyn was once approached by a desperate talmid. “My wife has stage-four cancer. Please do something, give her a bracha, a guarantee that she will survive.” Rav Berenbaum, explained with great sorrow, that it is beyond his power. The talmid persisted, “Please! You are our Rosh Yeshivah; you must do something.” The Rav agreed and sent him off with a bracha. Shortly after, the talmid received a call from Berlin, Germany. There was an experimental treatment being tested and his wife was one out of the twenty people worldwide to be selected to receive it. With nothing left to lose, they headed to Berlin. Out of those twenty people, only two of them were cured and she was one of them.
After experiencing nothing short of a miracle, the couple came to Rav Berenbaum with the joyous news and asked what he did because, clearly, it worked. Rav Berenbaum explained: “After you left that day, I sat in front of the Gemara learning an intense debate between Abaye and Rava, the Sages of the Gemara. I said, ‘Abaye, I talk to you. You are a friend of mine. Every day, we learn together. This man also learns from you each day and if something happens to his wife, who is critically ill, he will be unable to continue talking to you all day. Please, go to G-d’s Throne of Glory and pray to Him on our behalf.’” The Rav then turned to the couple and said, “It seems Abaye did his job well.”
Reprinted from the Parshas Devorim 5784 email of Torah Sweets.
